I have been hearing from a lot of people recently who are having trouble getting interviews for that next opportunity.
If you feel that nobody is interested in reading and responding to your CV/resume, you should seriously consider rewriting it.
Why?
Well, let’s look at the process from the employer’s point of view.
- Why should a company select your CV/resume, interview you and possibly hire you, when they may have a few hundred candidates to choose from?
- What can you say that will make your resume stand out?
- How can you create the necessary wording in your CV/resume in order to help provide a mental picture for the reader, showing your potential capabilities?
- How will you be able hold the reader’s interest in order for you to get past that first critical step of being short-listed for a possible interview?
You must provide the most comprehensive picture of your capabilities in order to catch the attention of the reader.
You must ensure that you have thoroughly reviewed all aspects of your job, your experiences and successes, and include these in your CV/resume. The consequences of not doing will most likely result in your application being rejected.
After rewriting your CV/resume carefully read each statement you have written about your experience and deliverable and then ask yourself the question, “So what?”
If you have made your statements as dynamic and descriptive as you can, then you have a better chance to catch the attention of the reader and improved your chances of getting a job interview.
Here are a couple of the several “So what” examples to assist you in improving the quality and content of your resume:
Deputised as team supervisor – (So what?)
– Or you could write – Deputised as team supervisor for a team of 5 staff and lead the team in successfully completing a £250,000 project in upgrading the company’s sales order entry system. This resulted in an annual company operational savings of £65,000.
Call centre team leader responsible for inbound call centre staff – (So what?)
– Or you could write – Team leader managing a call centre team of 8 staff and was responsible for a 6 month cycle of process improvements covering the analysis, creation and delivery of a new inbound call centre customer handling process. This process improved overall customer call answering efficiency by 10% and raised overall customer satisfaction ratings by 4%.
Which is more interesting and descriptive to read?
You can have the best experience in the world – but if your resume doesn’t stand out, if you don’t present that information in a well-organized manner, or if it doesn’t tell your story, nobody will take the time to look at your resume closely enough to see all that experience.
While your CV/resume may look different depending on the industry you’re in, the one presented by Business Insider is a really great example of a resume for job seekers with about 10 years of experience:
http://www.businessinsider.com/excellent-resume-for-mid-level-employee-2014-8#ixzz3Af3PqIo7
If you’ve found this useful, please comment on my blog below. And if you need some help with your resume or interviewing technique, check out my interview coaching services here or email me on margaret@interview-coach.co.uk and let’s arrange time to discuss how I could possibly help you reach your career goals.
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Margaret Buj is an interview and career acceleration coach who has helped hundreds of professionals get hired, promoted and paid more. If you want to find out how recruiters read resumes, why you’re not getting hired, how to sell yourself successfully in a job interview and how to negotiate your best salary yet, you can download her free “You’re HIRED!” video course.
